Projects Rock Auto parts

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I have bought many items through Rock Auto, one particularly good experience was I wanted to replace the Mustang II rack in my 38 Chevy because the swap meet item that was supposedly "new" was loose as a goose, Rock Auto had a close out and it was about half price compared to other suppliers, especially the hot rods parts places. The only issue I had was the need for a replacement bellows on the original rack and the one they sent in the box wasn't right (right part number, wrong part), after a phone call they just shipped me another, I had to whine but the outcome was fine.

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I've used Rock Auto quite a bit and as mentioned shipping can actually add up to MORE than other places. I've used Autozone as well as they have free shipping and 20% discounts quite often. Shipping isn't as fast as I'd like sometimes, but I schedule accordingly or choose another vendor. O'reilly's is good price-wise and can normally have most anything I need next day. I need to pick it up at the store, but it's a 5-10 minute drive and often saves long delays waiting on Rock or Autozone.
I shop most every purchase between the 3 and seldom have any issues.

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Since Monday was a Holiday (Columbus Day) and there was no mail delivery, maybe the system is backed up a little. Be patient grasshopper.

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That well may be, but according to their tracking system, both packages have been sitting in the source DHL facility since last week. The one coming from Mason City is in Chicago. An order I placed with Shoebox Central on Tuesday (coming USPS all the way) is already at my post office (according to their tracking system which has never been wrong). BTW, Shoebox Central is in Oklahoma City for those who don't know.

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I buy %75 of my parts from them . The local store won't cut me any deals so I take my money out of town. I look at the shipping but usually the %5 discount that is available to everyone on the internet and add in the sales tax savings I can come close to the shipping charge. I don't think their website is very user friendly but its do able.

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Some day when the internet is down and it happens, thanks Irma. you folks have put the local parts store out of business so no local source ,you can't even ask a question.
I share the wealth, I support my local parts house and they go out of their way to help. I also buy online.
Walmart ruined this country by eliminating most of the down town stores. Now Rock Auto is going to eliminate the local parts stores. I happen to be on Walmart's website the other day and was surprised to see the amount of speed parts that they sell online. Heads , manifolds etc. Trying to keep up with Amazon

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This thread was started by a guy who could not get the counter guy at the local parts store to even look up the parts he needs, because he is building a hot rod, and the counter guy needs an application to find the parts.

I buy stuff locally some times, and over the internets other times.

And the local parts store relies on the internet...when it's down, they can't look up parts or order them, either.

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Some day when the internet is down and it happens, thanks Irma. you folks have put the local parts store out of business so no local source ,you can't even ask a question.
I share the wealth, I support my local parts house and they go out of their way to help. I also buy online.
Walmart ruined this country by eliminating most of the down town stores. Now Rock Auto is going to eliminate the local parts stores. I happen to be on Walmart's website the other day and was surprised to see the amount of speed parts that they sell online. Heads , manifolds etc. Trying to keep up with Amazon

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These issues are too complex to boil them down really, but you do make a great point.

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Mr. 48 Chev brought up an excellent point. "I buy a lot of stuff from them but quite often use their site to help find a part number." Rock Auto's site has a lot of part numbers from various sources, including OEM. Our local family owned parts store is very cooperative. If a part is not in their book, they will cross reference a number you provide.

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A little of topic but not really. As you may know if you give oriellys a business card they will set up an account for you and you get a better price than regular customers. I just made up some business cards on vistaprint and bingo. FYI

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buying online VS buying from a local parts store won't make any difference in 15-20 years. the cars are going to get so complicated that the average guy won't be able to fix it himself. they can barely do it now , even some of the small independent repair shops struggle. in 20 years all O'Reilly will be able to sell are air fresheners, floor mats and Seafoam . then you will have to take your car to the dealership for parts and repairs

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I live in a little bitty town. Our local NAPA, (been there 30 years) is always my first stop. Sometimes they can't find something and Rock Auto has come thru fine for me.

There is, regionally anyway, a subsection to southcross's point. Here in the midwest O'Reillys is becoming the Walmart of auto parts. They move into little towns to drive the others out. They built a big store 1/2 a block from my NAPA and don't care if they don't make money. They know they will after NAPA is gone. Been a couple years and I haven't set foot in there even though, of course, they are open Sundays.

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I've had such rotten luck buying parts locally and my local Napa burned me on the $$ to press on 2 axle bearings. The scant few parts I did buy there, 3 of them crapped out on me within the last 2 months. I buy a ton of parts on eBay and free shipping almost always.

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I have bought from Rock Auto parts, have had no real problems or complaints, the only thing I noticed, if they don't ship all of your order, the back order parts can take forever, their system can't tell when and if on a back order, so I just cancel that part of order and the refund is immediate on my credit card account. They do sell brand names and other's, but even the brand names have made in CHINA sticker. (Today's Time's)

I've had good luck with them and have bought quite a few parts over the last few years. Only problem I've had, which was neither of our faults, was a Melling brass expansion plug kit that was supposed to fit my 170 according to Melling. Well they didn't because they were for a 65 and newer 200/250 but, returning them wasn't bad I just don't get my $3 in shipping back with the return option I chose.

A couple years ago I bought a starter and the core charge was $11 but, it was going to cost me $7 to ship it back so I just kept it. Even with the core and shipping the new starter ended up $30 cheaper than local stores.

I use Rock Auto to at least check part numbers and/or buying options every time I need a part. I've had excellent service/delivery on the parts I do get from them and have gotten big savings on what Rock Auto calls manufacturer close outs. On a side note, IMO 36-3window is right on post #43. Business wise if the world's auto manufacturers can make it where you can only get parts from them, it will drive millions of dollars to their bottom line profit. You can bet they are trying to figure how to pull it off. Just a matter of time.

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...Business wise if the world's auto manufacturers can make it where you can only get parts from them, it will drive millions of dollars to their bottom line profit. You can bet they are trying to figure how to pull it off. Just a matter of time.

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They've tried it several times already and are still trying... The Moss-Magnuson act of 1975 directly prohibited 'tie-in' warranties, i.e. you have to use OEM parts to maintain coverage. The latest battleground is electronics, with the auto manufactures attempting to prevent the aftermarket from access to their 'proprietary' computer coding. This would effectively shut down the aftermarket for many replacement parts as well as pretty much all of the 'tuner' stuff.

I find myself increasingly buying my parts online. The local stores (NAPA, Autozone, and O'riellys) have gone down hill in both counter competency and parts quality over the last 10 years or so. NAPA is the best of the three in those terms, but very rarely has what I need in stock.

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Rockauto is very good for shipping parts to Canada. Parts here are generally twice or more than in the US, and selection is less. I have found parts on the NAPA website, gone to my local NAPA store and been told that they can't get those parts in Canada. After that happens a few times I am less interested in even trying.

The problem here is that if you do order parts on closeouts and they are problematic you are generally out of luck due to the return shipping costs and time restrictions. But I have so far had only one bad part, a "genuine" Motorcraft front strut (it had a Motorcraft sticker on it, but wasn't identical to the Motorcraft part it was supposed to replace) that was seized up internally.

As for shipping charges from many sources, well the site tells you exactly how much the shipping charges will be, it is up to the purchaser to try to buy brands that come from the same warehouse.

I don't think that brand names mean a lot these days anyway. A "Delco" part for a newer Mazda is probably made in the same Chinese factory as any other brand.

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Another good reason to use Rockauto is the wholesaler closeout deals. They keep track of your rides and send out a closeout flier once in a while. I just bought about $100 plus worth of parts for my 61 Ford for $28 including shipping. Last year I got a rebuilt Lucas generator ($329 at Moss) for $35 and no core charge for my MG in a closeout deal.

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The only "local" parts store we have is O'Reilly's. They opened enough of them to force all the others out. It is 22 mile round trip to the nearest one. Probably 60-75% of the time they do not have the item in stock and have to order it. That requires another trip and 1-2 day wait. I find that it is USUALLY less stressful, cheaper, and almost as fast to just order it online.

That being said, I am waiting for a part from RockAuto that has been "delayed in transit" for over a week between 2 post offices 30 miles from my house and nobody has a clue why. The last sentence of the above paragraph does not apply in this case.

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Our Car Quest has exceptional help. Use the computer and have books as a backup.
We have a NAPA as well but I avoid it like the plague. There is another NAPA 12 miles away that not only is open until 9pm daily but 7pm on Sundays. They are big on customer service.
I buy just about everything from those 2 places to help keep the doors open.

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i didn't mean to imply that in the future you could only get parts from the cars manufacturers , i'm sure that the aftermarket will still be strong.. i meant that in the future the average guy will not have the ability to do the repairs himself on the newer cars